Millin

g
By S K
Mondal

Video

Milling
Milling machines of various types are widely
used for the following purposes using
proper cutting tools called milling cutters:
Flat surface in vertical, horizontal and inclined
planes
Making slots or ribs of various sections
Slitting or parting
Often producing surfaces of revolution
Making helical grooves like flutes of the drills
Long thread milling on large lead screws, power
screws, worms etc and short thread milling for
small size fastening screws, bolts etc.

Milling
2-D contouring like cam profiles, clutches etc and

3-D contouring like die or mould cavities

Cutting teeth in piece or batch production of spur

gears, straight toothed bevel gears, worm wheels,

sprockets, clutches etc.
Producing

some salient features like grooves,

flutes, gushing and profiles in various cutting tools,

e.g., drills, taps, reamers, hobs, gear shaping
cutters etc.

Up milling and down milling

Video-1: Down mill

ing
Video-2: down mill
ing

Up milling and down milling

In down milling, though the cut starts with a full

chip thickness, the cut gradually reduces to

zero. This helps in eliminating the feed marks
present in the case of up milling and
consequently better surface finish.
Climb milling also allows greater feeds per
tooth and longer cutting life between regrinds
than the conventional milling.
Up milling needs stronger holding of the job and
down milling needs backlash free screw-nut
systems for feeding.

Advantages of Down Milling

1. Suited to machine thin and hard-to-hold parts
since the workpiece is forced against the table or
holding device by the cutter.
2. Work need not be clamped as tightly.
3. Consistent parallelism and size may be
maintained, particularly on thin parts.
4. It may be used where breakout at the edge of
the workpiece could not be tolerated.
5. It requires upto 20% less power to cut by this
method.
6. It may be used when cutting off stock or when
milling deep, thin slots.

Disadvantages of Down Milling

1. It cannot be used unless the machine has a
backlash eliminator and the table jibs have been
tightened.
2. It cannot be used for machining castings or
hot rolled steel, since the hard outer scale will
damage the cutter.

IES - 2007
What is the process of removing metal by
a milling cutter which is rotated against
the direction of travel of the work piece,
called?
(a) Down milling (b) Up milling
(c) End milling
(d) Face milling

IES - 1997
Consider the following statements:
In Up milling process,
1. The cutter starts the cut from the machined surface
and proceeds upwards.
2. The cutter starts the cut from the top surface and
proceeds downwards.
3. The job is fed in a direction opposite to that of cutter
rotation.
4. The job is fed in the same direction as that of cutter
rotation.
Of these statements correct are:
(a) 1 and 3 (b) 1 and 4
(c) 2 and 3 (d) 2 and 4

IES 2010
Assertion (A): Climb or down milling operation
ensures smoother operation of the machine tool
and longer tool life as compared to the
conventional up milling operation.
Reason (R): In climb or down milling operation,
the rotational motion of the cutter as well as the
feed motion of the work-piece are in the same
direction, and the depth of cut is maximum at the
entry point as the cutter engages the workpiece.
(a) Both A and R are individually true and R is the
correct explanation of A
(b) Both A and R are individually true but R is NOT the
correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false

Classification of milling machines

(a)

According to nature of purposes of use:

General purpose
Single purpose
Special purpose
(b) According to configuration and motion of
the work-holding table / bed
Knee type
Bed type
Planer type
Rotary table type

Classification of milling machines

(c) According to the orientation of the spindle(s).
Plain horizontal knee type
Horizontal axis (spindle) and swiveling bed type
Vertical spindle type
Universal head milling machine
(d) According to mechanization / automation and
production rate
Hand mill (milling machine)
Planer and rotary table type vertical axis milling
machines
Tracer controlled copy milling machine,
Milling machines for short thread milling
Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) milling machine

Classifications of milling cutters

(a) Profile sharpened cutters where the
geometry of the machined surfaces are not
related with the tool shape, viz;
i. Slab or plain milling cutter: straight or helical
fluted
ii. Side milling cutters single side or both sided
type
iii. Slotting cutter
iv. Slitting or parting tools
v. End milling cutters with straight or taper
shank
vi. Face milling cutters.

Classifications of milling cutters

(b) Form relieved cutters where the job
profile becomes the replica of the
Tool-form, e.g., viz.;
i. Form cutters
ii. Gear (teeth) milling cutters
iii. Spline shaft cutters
iv. Tool form cutters
v. T-slot cutters
vi. Thread milling cutter

Video

Slab or Plain milling cutters

Side and slot milling cutters

Slitting saw or parting tool

End milling cutters or End mills

Face milling cutters

Use of form relieved cutters

(milling)

Tool form cutters

T- slot cutter

Gear teeth milling cutters

Spline shaft cutters

Straddle milling

IES 1995, ISRO-2010

In a milling operation two side milling
cutters are mounted with a desired
distance between them so that both sides
of
a
work
piece
can
be
milled
simultaneously. This set up is called.
(a) Gang milling
(b) Straddle milling
(c) String milling
(d) Side milling.

Gang milling

IES - 2006
Gang milling is a
(a) Milling process for generating hexagonal
surfaces
(b) Process of cutting gears
(c) Process in which two or more cutters are
used simultaneously
(d) Milling operation combined with turning

IES - 2009
For machining, which one of the following
gang milling operations is employed?
(a) Threads
(b) Bores
(c) Grooves
(d) Steps on prismatic parts

Turning by rotary tools

(milling cutters)

Video

Indexing

Simple or Plain Indexing

Plain indexing is the name given to the indexing

method carried out using any of the indexing

plates in conjunction with the worm.

Video

Example
Indexing 28 divisions

Example
Indexing 62 divisions

IES 2004, ISRO-2011

One brand of milling machine has the following two
index plates supplied along with the indexing head:
Plate 1: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 hole circles
Plate 2: 21, 23, 27, 29, 31, 33 hole circles
It is proposed to mill a spur gear of 28 teeth using simple
indexing method. Which one of the following combinations
of index plate and number of revolutions is correct?
(a) Plate 1: 1 revolution and 9 holes in 18 hole circles
(b) Plate 2: 1 revolution and 9 holes in 21 hole circles
(c) Plate 2: 1 revolution and 9 holes In 33 hole circles
(d) Plate 1: 1 revolution and 9 holes In 15 hole circles

IES - 2000
One of the index plates of a milling
machine dividing head has the following
hole circles: 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20
A gear wheel of 34 teeth has to be milled by
simple indexing method. To machine each tooth,
the index crank has to be rotated through
(a) 17 holes in the 20-hole circle
(b) 18 holes in the 20-hole circle
(c) 1 revolution and 3 holes in 17-hole circle
(d) 1 revolution and 2 holes in 18-hole circle

IAS - 1994
A standard dividing head is equipped with
the following index plates
1. Plate with 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 holes circles
2. Plate with 21, 23, 27, 29, 31, 33 holes circles
3. Plate with 37, 39, 41,43,47,49 holes circles
For obtaining 24 divisions on a work piece by
simple indexing
(a) Hole plate 2 alone can be used
(b) Hole plates 1 and 2 can be used
(c) Hole plates 1 and 3 can be used
(d) Any of the three hole plates can be used

Milling Velocity
The cutting speed in milling is the surface

speed of the milling cutter.

DN
V
1000

Milling Time
L 2 A
fZN

Time for one pass =

Approach

D D
A
d
distance,
2
2

minutes
2

d D d

Example
A C50 steel flat surface of dimensions 100
mm 250 mm is to be produced on a
horizontal axis milling machine. An HSS
slab mill with a 100 mm diameter and 150
mm width is to be used for the purpose.
The milling cutter has 8 teeth.
Calculate the machining time assuming
that entire stock can be removed in one
depth of 2 mm.
Given,
Feed, f = 0.13 mm/tooth,
Cutting speed, V = 20 m/min.

MRR in Milling
Considering the parameters defined in the
discussion of speeds and feeds, etc, the MRR is
given below,
Where,

F
MRR =

where, w = width of cut, d = depth of cut

Video

Some Formulae for Milling

2f
Maximum uncut chip thickness (t max )
NZ
f
Average uncut chip thickness (t a vg )
NZ

d
D

d
D
2
f
Peak to valley surface roughness (h max )
4 DN 2 Z 2

GATE 2012 (PI) Common Data S1

Data for a plain milling operation are given
below.
Length of workpiece
200 mm
Cutter diameter
100 mm
No. of teeth
4
Cutter speed
100 rpm
Feed
200 mm/min
Depth of cut
2 mm
Total clearance (entry and exit) 5 mm
Mean undeformed chip thickness (in microns) is
(a) 142
(b) 100
(c) 71
(d) 50

GATE 2012 (PI) Common Data S2

Data for a plain milling operation are given
below.
Length of workpiece
200 mm
Cutter diameter
100 mm
No. of teeth
4
Cutter speed
100 rpm
Feed
200 mm/min
Depth of cut
2 mm
Total clearance (entry and exit) 5 mm
Machining time for a single pass (in seconds) is
(a) 60
(b) 66 (c) 126
(d) 150

IES - 2012
Statement (I): Vibrations in milling are induced due to
interrupted cutting operation.
Statement (II):Vibrations can be suppressed to a large
extent by using equal spacing of teeth along the
periphery of the cutters.
(a) Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are
individually true and Statement (II) is the correct
explanation of Statement (I)
(b) Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are
individually true but Statement (II) is not the correct
explanation of Statement (I)
(c) Statement (I) is true but Statement (II) is false
(d) Statement (I) is false but Statement (II) is true

Ch-7: Milling
Q No

Option

Q. No

Option

10

11

12